Anyone know anything about it? How about a position such as this? I’m coming from a Fund Accountant position and I’m hoping and guessing it can’t get any worse than that. It’s a position that I’m dealing with through a recruiter and he’s asking me if I want to apply, any value in working in a role like this for a year or so while taking CFA level 1/2? Description JPMorgan Chase is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $1.1 trillion and operations in more than 50 countries. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and businesses, financial transaction processing, asset and wealth management, and private equity. Under the JPMorgan Chase and Bank One brands, the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients. Loan Trading Operations is a part of the JPMorgan Chase Investment Bank Technology and Operations organization. The Operations group is responsible for providing support to the firm’s Loan Trading business’s located in New York, London and Hong Kong and is part of the Investment Bank’s North American Credit Markets organization. The business engages in proprietary and market making trading activity for Par (high quality) and Distressed corporate loans as well as Sovereign Loans. Trades are initiated and executed through their respective loan trading desks and handed off to their Documentation Support teams for execution of transaction documentation (assignment or participation agreement) and transaction closing. The Operations team is responsible for handling all aspects of the trade from settlement date forward, including booking activities and ongoing maintenance of trading positions. Transactions are processed through a front to back system called Loan IQ. Ongoing responsibilities include: Booking of settled loan positions in Loan IQ. Delivery/receipt of consideration amount on settlement date. Servicing of settled loan positions (interest rollovers/ payments, rate settings,borrowings, repayments, etc.). Servicing loan participation investors. Review of settlement documents for par and distressed trades. Review distressed pricing letters and generate/distribute par funding memos. Communicate frequently with front office, documentation, and accounting and control teams. Execute payments of Agent and/or Broker fees. Follow up on open sensitive accounts items (receivables, payables, etc.).
I think it’s interesting, but I like credit. These desks are usually over-the-wall, i.e. seperate from the public markets desks because they are privy to non-public creditor info. The real question is the same with any ops job though, do you have any contact with the traders and the ability to move up if you do well.
The thing with jobs in ops is that they can have a decent future, but very difficult to leverage in to anything in the front office, so have that in mind going in. All said and done, I would have to say that it would beat fund accounting.
Loan ops won’t offer too many opportunities for a front office job. The only thing that might be benefical is understanding the credit agreements for these deals which are normally the most influential in the cap strcuture.
Don’t do it! I worked in Loan Ops 1st year out of school… TERRIBLE! But depending on your current situation - I am not in a position to make a comparative judgement. Mobility is extremely limited. Work environment - everyone hates their life/job and it’s not one of those feel good roles. Most ops people are lifers with no ambition. Frequent phone calls from traders may include the following: Trader: “Why the f* did my screen freeze…I have this error message that says xyz” You: “But…I am not IT” Trader: “Oh well put me through to f*n IT” I got phone calls like these for months - they couldn’t figure out that I wasn’t IT. Just go into it expecting a complete sh*t show if you decide to move forward. Long hours too!